The Ray Adventures: Leaving Oregon behind 10/5 McDermitt, Or. to Yuma, Az. 10/17

Leg 4, 10/5, off to McDermitt, Or/Nv our park straddles the border. Elevation 4,132, Population ? maybe 300. The few businesses were a casino, gas station, hotel and the RV park we are in. A junk store is for sale, maybe you'd like to be an entrepeneur in the very SE corner of Oregon 147 miles from Burns. We did some geo cacheing,well Gary did, I checked my eyelids for cracks. We are looking forward to warm weather!

Leg 5, 10/6, 272 miles to Hawthorne, Nv., Elevation 4,379, Population 3,269. A pretty drive, very different geology, Joshua trees doted the desert scape. We drove through a valley with rugged mountains on each side, one section looked very different, almost like pyramids. Hawthorne's claim to fame is the world's largest munitions depot. It's very windy, I hunkered down while Gary and Luci went cacheing. It's not warm yet!

Leg 6 10/7, We arrived at Pahrump, a 267 mile drive. Population 36,000 Elevation 2,697 We are staying at Nevada Treasures, a much nicer RV park than we usually spring for but we got a good price. And it's finally warm!    Monday we drove to Death Valley, about an hour drive from Pahrump. We first stopped at Furnace Creek Visitor Center, an oasis in the desert, several high end resorts surrounded by tall palms, it was a perfect day in Death Valley, only 89 degrees with a light breeze. Death Valley encompasses 3,336 acres with elevation ranges from 282 ft below sea level to 11,049 at Telescope Peak. On the drive down to Badlands Basin we stopped at the Devils Golf Course, named in 1934, it was stated that only the devil could play on it's surface due to rough texture from the large halite salt formations. We drove on down to Badwater Basin but no parking spots were to be found so we drove back to the Artists Palate Drive, 9 miles of beautiful colorful rock formations. We drove through the 20 Mule Team Boax Canyon, in places the rocks were so light colored it reminded us of White Sands in NM, so white it looked like snow. Zilenski Peak overlooks Badwater Basin and mountains on other side, amazing views. Monday Gary drove out to Cathedral Canyon, in 1960 Roland Riley developed the canyon into a sanctuary so he could invite friends and strangers to exhibit his spirituality, he carved baptismal tubs into the rock, installed electricity and some beautiful stained glass, after he died it fell into ruin by vandals and nature. I spend the day lounging by the pool.

Leg 7 10/10 A long drive to Las Vegas, 78 miles to Nellis AFB. Population 583,756 Elevation 2181, We stayed here 3 or 4 years ago, while at the Fremont St. Experience we watched people zip line over the madness on the street. We wanted to do it but the line was so long we skipped it but left a "want to" taste in our mouth. Wednesday we did it! Fun, fun fun! Pictures of our "flight" were taken and of course for a fee we could buy them. We bought just one, to be delivered to our e-mail within 20 minutes. While we waited we had an adult beverage to celebrate our feat. We played a little video poker and we won, a whole $16.00, we cashed out immediately. We had dinner at Hennesseys, we met a group from Switzerland celebrating a bachelor party, the men wore crazy suits. We had a long chat with one of the groomsmen, he was quite character, wanted to know all about us, when we told him we lived in our RV he asked if we were poor because in his country poor people lived in "trailers" He was quite forthright. Bikefest is happening this weekend - not bicycles - motorcycles. A bit crazy for us, speaking of crazy we saw two different men in their 60's or 70's buck naked except for a creative wardrobe. Saturday we recorded the Oregon/Washington game then drove out to Red Rock State Park, we'd been there before hiking. A beautiful area, this time we geo cached. Oregon won! Wah hoo. Sunday we decided to extend our time in Nellis due to high winds. We watched the Seahawk beat the Raiders big time. Wah hoo again!

Leg 8 10/17 Happy birthday Talena, holy smokes 48! When I joined the family you were only 8. Where does time go? We're off to Yuma to see Gary's Aunt Ruth. Her son has been staying with her helping out since a serious illness last year. We've never met any of her kids before - what a nice guy. We took them out to dinner at "Chicken on the Go", Ruth said Yuma is filling up with Snow Birds, last week they were the only ones in the restaurant, tonight it was packed.

Leg 9 10/19 Off to Florence to spend a couple nights with old friends from Salem, Gordy and Sylvia Wirth. They have 6 acres on a hill overlooking Casa Grande, they've lived there for 20 years, the property is nicely desert scaped.   While Gary and Luci were out for their last "potty" walk in the dark I heard two gun shots. It worried me until they came back in. Sylvia called, her neighbor was alerted by their dog something was amiss. A rattlesnake was on her porch, the shots I heard were her killing the snake. It's always fun to spend time with the Wirth's, we spent many weekends when the kids were little camping with them in the Cascade Mountains.

Leg 10 10/20 We're getting closer to Texas, we are in Lordsburg, NM for one night. Poor Gary battled a cross-wind for over 200 miles today.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN,
Gary and Pam